Ch. 9 - Torts

______ is a defense to a products liability claim.

product misuse

absolute privilege

A defense to a defamation claim whereby the defendant need not proffer any further evidence to assert the defense; provided to government officials, judicial officers and proceedings, and state legislatures.

Actual Damages

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove that she suffered some physical harm that resulted in identifiable losses.

Government officials fall into the ___________ privilege category.

absolute

If an injured party knows or should know of a risk associated with a product, but they continue to use the product anyway, the injured party has ______ the risk.

assumed

______ is a defense to a strict liability claim.

assumption of risk

For an injured consumer to recover, she must prove the product was defective and:______.

created a danger outside the reasonable consumer expectations.

Section 402A of the Restatement imposes strict liability on the seller so long as the injured party can show that the product was in a(n) ______ condition and that the defect rendered the product ______ dangerous.

defective, unreasonably

The law requires products to carry sufficient warnings and

instructions

Failing to use a product in a manner that an ordinarily prudent person would have is the defense of product

misuse

Violations of safety statutes are referred to as: ______.

negligence per se

In tort law, the failure of one party to act or intervene in a certain situation is known as: ______.

nonfeasance

For a party to recover for an injury caused by a product, the product must have been defective and must have created a danger that:

was outside the reasonable consumer's expectations.

_______, another exception to the no general duty to act/rescue, occurs when one party voluntarily begins to render assistance even when there is no legal obligation to do so.

Assumption of duty

Which of the following is an element of negligence?

Breaching the duty of care owed

Tortfeaser

One who commits a civil wrong against another that results in injury to person or property.

Tort law allocates liability based on a fundamental difference between ______ or some act by one party that harms or endangers another party, and ______ or the failure to act or intervene in a certain situation.

misfeasance, nonfeasance

The _________ party must prove all elements of negligence to be successful.

injured

The tortfeasor's wrongful conduct is referred to as ____________ conduct.

tortious

Improper packaging can render a product unreasonably dangerous and thus:

defective

The plaintiff may not recover in a negligence case if the damages are limited to __________ and/or emotional harm.

mental

The __________ privilege shields a merchant from reasonably detaining a party suspected of shoplifting.

merchants

Defamation is a false statement that is published to a third party that results in: ______.

damages

Fraudulent misrepresentation is also referred to as:

fraud

To qualify as a defamatory statement, the victim's reputation must be: ______.

harmed

Even if an express warranty does not exist, the UCC provides that an injured consumer may still recover under the ______________ warranty theory.

implied

A product that is ______ is designed and manufactured correctly with adequate warnings, but is still dangerous.

inherently dangerous

______ statements are a defense to a defamation claim.

privileged

Which of the following are elements of negligence?

Duty, breach, cause in fact, legal cause, and damages

A claim for negligent misrepresentation is founded in: __________.

negligence

Tortious interference with a prospective advantage protects against interference with a(n) ____________ contract, not one already formed.

potential

intentional torts

A category of torts in which the tortfeasor was willful in bringing about a particular event that caused harm to another party.

For the most part, tort law is found in state ________ law.

common

Qualified Privilege

A defense to a defamation claim whereby the defendant must offer evidence of good faith and be absent of malice to be shielded from liability; provided for the media and employers.

The failure to meet obligations when there is a duty to do so is called a(n) ______________ of duty in a negligence case.

breach

Lost profit or loss of employment would be examples of ___________ in a defamation suit.

damages

The ___________ define proximate cause as that which helps draw the line that determines when a tortfeasor is "not liable for harm different from harms whose risk made the [tortfeasor's] conduct tortious".

restatements

The ______ Restatements of tort law have the benefit of volumes of case law and wide acceptance.

second

A claim for false imprisonment in the commercial setting commonly presents itself in cases of: _____.

suspected retail theft.

strict liability

A category of torts in which a tortfeasor may be held liable for an act regardless of intent or willfulness; applies primarily to cases of defective products and abnormally dangerous activities.

Negligence

A category of torts in which the tortfeasor was without willful intent in bringing about a particular event that caused harm to another party.

Tort

A civil wrong in which one party's action or inaction causes a loss to be suffered by another party.

Which of the following gives members of Congress protection from liability for any statements made during a congressional debate?

Speech and debate clause

product disparagement statuses

Statutes intended to protect the interest of a state's major industries, such as agriculture, dairy, or beef.

Nonfeasance

The failure to act or intervene in a certain situation.

tortious conduct

The wrongful action or inaction of a tortfeasor.

In the context of negligent conduct, which of the following circumstances are required for tort law to apply?

When one party's actions unintentionally cause harm When one party does not act reasonably

libel

Written defamation, in which someone publishes in print (words or pictures), writes, or broadcasts through radio, television, or film an untruth about another that will do harm to that person's reputation or honesty or subject a party to hate, contempt, or ridicule.

Courts have determined that manufacturers have a duty of ___________ when designing, manufacturing and inspecting products.

care

Laws that impose liability on owners and employees of public establishments where alcohol is served are called ________ laws.

dram of

The first step in analyzing a negligence claim is to determine whether the tortfeasor owed a legal _____________ (one word) to the injured party.

duty

__________ is spoken defamation.

slander

The merchant's privilege is limited to: ______.

the merchant's premises and immediately adjacent area.

Assumption of the risk is a defense based on: __________.

the plaintiff's voluntary participation in the activity

Res ipsa loquitur is Latin for:______.

the thing speaks for itself

The ______ must prove the elements of the defense of assumption of the risk.

tortfeasor

If a competitor makes a false statement that disparages a competing product, the injured business may sue for __________ libel.

trade

Which of the following is a defense to a defamation claim?

truth

If someone is injured by a defective product, she can pursue the following as possible causes of action:

Negligence, Warranty, Or Strict Liability

Which of the following is an element of defamation?

Dissemination

The ______ rule that allows for liability for negligently manufactured products to include any injuries to persons and not just the actual purchaser.

MacPherson

___________ of duty, another exception to the no general duty to act/rescue, occurs when one party voluntarily begins to render assistance even when there is no legal obligation to do so.

assumption

Most courts use which test when establishing a causal link between breach of duty and damages?

but-for

Once a landowner becomes a landlord and she gives possession of the property to the tenant, the landlord is generally not held liable except for:_______.

certain common areas

Products liability laws may take the form of state __________ law or state statutes that expressly impose liability for injuries that result from products.

common

Under ___________ negligence, the jury will apportion fault among the parties and reduce the plaintiff's overall award by the percentage of harm caused by the plaintiff's own actions.

comparative

The defense where the tortfeasor asserts that the injured party's conduct has played a factor in the harm suffered is known as: ______.

comparative negligence

The goal of tort law is to: ______.

compensate the victim.

True or false: General untrue statements about a profession or group as a whole are defamation.

false

___________ is written defamation.

libel

Damages allowed for spouses or children of parties injured by negligence are called ________ damages.

loss of consortium

If the victim of defamation is a public figure, the defamation must have been committed with _____________ or reckless disregard for the truth.

malice

A claim for fraudulent misrepresentation requires the misrepresentation of a(n) ____________ fact.

material

So long as the media acts in good faith, without malice, and without a reckless disregard for the truth, the media will enjoy ____________ protection from defamation liability.

qualified

Employers, in some states, who are providing references for former employees may enjoy a(n) _________ for protection of speech.

qualified privilege

The law imposes a general duty on all people to act in a(n) ___________ manner under the circumstances.

reasonable and prudent

Courts use a __________ standard to determine whether landowners should have acted to prevent a risk to parties who come on their land.

reasonableness

Dissemination to a third party, a requirement of the defamation law, requires that _____.

the false statement must reach the eyes or ears of a third party

A(n) _____________ is a civil wrong where one party has committed an act that causes another to suffer harm.

tort

In general, the scope of the duty of _____________ _________________ is defined by foreseeability.

reasonable conduct

A(n) ___________ tort is one where the tortfeasor's actions were willful.

intentional

False imprisonment falls into which tort category?

intentional

The tort of contract interference is a(n) ______ tort.

intentional

trade libel

A tort in which a competitor has made a false statement that disparaged a competing product.

If a party fails to satisfy its obligations to another party, this is known as a: ______.

breach of duty

The tort of trade libel requires that the statement be a clear and specific reference to the disparaged party or product.

true

Landowners owe a general duty to parties off the land from any ________ risks to them caused by something on the land.

unreasonable

Laws of negligence impose liability when one's conduct is: __________.

unreasonable

An injured consumer may recover under strict liability if the injured consumer can prove that the product was defective and the defect made the product ______ dangerous.

unreasonably

assumption of the risk

A defense to claims of negligence in which the injured party knew that a substantial and apparent risk was associated with certain conduct and the party went ahead with the dangerous activity anyway.

Comparative Negligence

A defense to claims of negligence in which the injured party's conduct has played a factor in the harm suffered and, thus, the proportion of negligence should be divided.

proximate (legal) cause

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove a legally recognized and close-in-proximity link between the breach of duty and the damages suffered.

actual damages

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove that she suffered some physical harm that resulted in identifiable losses.

breach of duty

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove that the tortfeasor failed to exercise reasonable care in fulfilling her obligations.

duty

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove that the tortfeasor owed him a duty of care.

cause in fact

A fundamental element that must be proved to recover in a negligence lawsuit against a tortfeasor: The injured party must prove that, except for the breach of duty by the tortfeasor, he would not have suffered damages.

Merchant's Privilege

A narrow privilege, provided for in the Restatements, that shields a merchant from liability for temporarily detaining a party who is reasonably suspected of stealing merchandise.

Misfeasance

An act by one party that harms or endangers another party.

Restatement of torts

An influential document issued by the American Law Institute that summarizes the general principles of U.S. tort law and is recognized by the courts as a source of widely applied principles of law. ALI has amended the Restatements twice, resulting in the Restatement (Second) of Torts and the Restatement (Third) of Torts.

______ defense is used when the defendant must prove that the injured party knew that a substantial and apparent risk was associated with certain conduct and the party voluntarily proceeded with the activity anyway.

Assumption of the risk

Which of the following, if untrue and published to a third party, would be defamation?

Barry Layne is an arsonist.

Which of the following describes the link between the breach of standard of care and the damages suffered by the injured party?

Cause in fact

Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996

Federal legislation that extends immunity to Internet service providers (ISPs) by protecting them from any defamation liability as a "publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

Special Relationship

In tort law, a heightened duty created between certain parties, such as that of a common carrier to its passengers, innkeepers to guests, employers to employees, businesses to patrons, a school to students, and a landlord to tenants and landowners.

slander

Oral defamation, in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another that will harm the reputation or honesty of the person defamed or subject a party to hate, contempt, or ridicule.

_____________ ___________ ___________ is the legal doctrine that allows a plaintiff to create a presumption of negligence against the defendant by inferring negligence in the absence of actual evidence.

Res ipsa loquitur

_____________ is an absolute defense to a defamation claim.

Truth

Abnormally dangerous activities typically include activities that involve: ______.

a high degree of risk of harm.

______________ privilege is where the defendant need not offer any further evidence to assert the defense.

absolute

For an injured party to be successful on a claim for contract interference, the injured party must prove that the tortfeasor had knowledge of the contract, actively interfered with the contract, and caused identifiable ______________ to the injured party.

damage

Medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering are examples of: ______.

damages

A false or untrue statement concerning another's reputation or honesty is referred to as a(n) __________ statement.

defamation

A product may be defective if not manufactured or ______ properly.

designed

The intentional infliction of confinement upon another party is: __________.

false imprisonment

Most courts favor defining the scope of risk in negligence cases by: ______.

foreseeability

The ______ has to prove a cause in fact in a negligence case.

injured party

______________ is a defense that recognizes either a legal or public policy-based immunity from a defamation claim.

privilege

A(n) _______ statute is intended to protect a state's agricultural, dairy, or beef industries.

product disparagement

The area of law covering harm caused by defective products is called: ______.

products liability.

The broad sweep of the but-for-test requires another step in the analysis, often referred to as the __________ (legal) cause test.

proximate

Celebrities and political candidates would be examples of: ______.

public figures

____________ damages are designed to punish the tortfeasor and are usually only awarded when conduct was extremely reckless or wanton.

punitive

An injured party generally may not hold a defendant liable for nonfeasance unless the parties were in a(n) ____________ relationship as defined by the law.

special

A category of tort where liability will be imposed, regardless of intent or willfulness, is called ___________ liability.

strict

Strict liability will not apply in a products liability case if there has been a ______ to the product before it reaches the end user.

substantial change

An intervening act that adds to the plaintiff's injury and normally takes place after the tortfeasor's negligent act is referred to as a(n): ______.

superseding cause.

Under the merchant's privilege, the merchant may seize stolen items: ______.

that are in plain view.

In proving proximate cause, the injured party must also show that the tortfeasor's conduct was ______ cause of the injured party's damages, and that the tortfeasor's liability was not canceled due to ______.

the closest-in-proximity, a superseding cause

A concern with the but-for test is that it may result in holding the ______________ responsible for damages beyond the scope of their breach of the standard of care.

tortfeasor